THE WELSH Ambulance Service has issued an apology after a Wrexham woman died while waiting over five hours for an ambulance to arrive at her home.

Rachel Rose Gibson, 58, died at her home in Erddig Road on Wednesday, April 5.

According to her daughter Nikita, Ms Gibson had called for an ambulance at 4pm as she was in 'chronic pain' and coughing up blood - having had no previous physical symptoms of the sort.

However, the ambulance did not arrive until around 9.30pm that same evening - and by the time paramedics arrived Ms Gibson had sadly passed away.

Nikita said the incident has left the family 'shocked' and 'devastated'.

She said: "Mum was curled up on the floor on the blanket waiting for an ambulance and died all alone.

"The incident has left us all devasted. Things could have been different if she was seen quicker, a lot quicker.

"The fact she was coughing up blood should have been an emergency and they should have come to her aid as soon as possible, not five-and-a-half hours later."

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Nikita added: "It haunts me to know that she died alone cuddled into a blanket on the floor waiting for the ambulance for help. Her death was  unexpected and has left us all in shock, it's like time has stopped for us.

"Using ambulances as waiting rooms at the hospital is disgusting, if we can send billions over to Ukraine then I'm sure we can give money to the NHS.

"I am angry that I didn't even get to say goodbye or have that last conversation with her. She was a generous, kind loving and funny woman who was abandoned by the system.

"She was in need and needed her life saving. To me, that is a priority but instead that priority was pushed to the back of the queue and the consequence of that is that she is now dead. There is no bringing her back."

Nikita added that she is now aiming to set up a campaign calling for change following the death of her mother so that 'lives can be saved'.

A fundraising page set up to help cover the costs of Ms Gibson's funeral has so far collected over £350.

Liam Williams, executive director of quality and nursing at the Welsh Ambulance Service has issued a statement following Ms Gibson's death.

He said: “We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Gibson family at this difficult time, and we would like to invite the family to contact us directly, so that we can work with them to ensure a full investigation is carried out.

“On April 5 2023, our ambulance crews spent over 700 hours outside hospitals across Wales waiting to hand patients over to our hospital colleagues, which in turn meant that our ambulances couldn’t respond to those waiting in the community.

“We are working hard with health board colleagues and Welsh Government to find solutions to the long waits at emergency departments in order to release our crews to respond, but these issues are complex and not easily fixed. "On behalf of the Trust, I would like to reinforce our sincere apologies and regret to anyone who has had a poor experience from us.”

Michelle Greene, East integrated Health Community Director at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, added: “Our Emergency Department remains extremely busy, and we apologise that this is resulting in longer waiting times than we would like, despite the best efforts of our nursing and medical staff. 

“We continue to face challenges to discharge patients from hospital to suitable accommodation or care services. This does impact flow through the entire hospital system, and on our ability to bring patients into and through the Emergency Department in a timely manner and we continue to work with our health and social care partners to improve this.

"We are also working with the Welsh Ambulance Service to ensure sufficient ambulances are available to respond to calls in the community."

Nikita claims she has attempted to contact the ambulance service numerous times herself since her mother's death but is awaiting a response.

She says a coroner has asked for an investigation to be carried out following the death of her mother.

As well as Nikita, Ms Gibson also leaves behind another daughter, Andrea.